Compare Weava and Recall: Which Extension is the Best?

	Weava	Recall
	Weava Highlighter was once a popular choice, but now it’s filled with ads and has a poor user experience. Better options like Web Highlights do the job better without the hassle. Highlighter Note Taking	With Recall, you can capture, summarize, and organize articles, PDFs, and videos with AI, spaced repetition, browser extensions, and strong privacy controls. AI Productivity
Key Features	Web & PDF Highlighting: Easily highlight text on web pages and PDFs using various colors. Annotations: Add detailed notes to your highlights for better reference and organization. Cloud Syncing: Seamlessly access your highlights and notes across multiple devices. Organize with Folders: Structure your highlights with folders and sub-folders for easy retrieval. Citation Creation: Automatically generate citations for your highlighted text, simplifying your research process.	AI Summarization: Instantly summarizes articles, PDFs, YouTube videos, and more. Personal Knowledge Base: Saves and organizes your summaries for easy retrieval. Spaced Repetition & Active Recall: Helps you actually remember what you save, not just store it. Augmented Browsing: Highlights related content as you browse, surfacing connections in your knowledge. Browser Extensions: One-click saving and summarizing directly from Chrome or Firefox. Editable Notebook: Add notes, highlights, and customize your saved content. Tagging & Organization: Automatic and manual tagging, with support for nested tags. Cross-Platform Sync: Works on desktop and mobile, keeping your knowledge base up to date.
Our Rating	7.0	8.9
Total users	200,000	73,229
Total ratings	2,728	95
Average rating	4.1 ⭐	4.1 ⭐
Entry Level Price	Free	Free
Chrome	4.1 2.7K+ ratings 200.0K+Users	4.2 78 ratings 70.0K+Users
Edge	-	-
Firefox	-	3.9 17 ratings 3.2K+Users
Safari	-	-
Features	8.5 Weava offers basic but functional features like web and PDF highlighting, annotations, and folder organization. The basic functionalities work great but the lack of innovative or advanced functionalities, especially compared to competitors, limits its appeal. Top 3 Features of Weava Highlighter 1. Highlight Websites and PDFs Similar to our favorite highlighter Web Highlights, you can highlight text on any website or PDF. Choose different colors to customize your highlights and make important information stand out. 2. Organize Research into Folders Weava lets you save your highlights and organize them into folders, making it simple to keep your research organized and find what you need fast. 3. Collaborate with Your Team Weava allows you to share folders with your team, making collaboration on research projects easy. Everyone can add and view highlights and notes all in one place.	9.2 Recall's range of functions is impressive for a relatively new tool. The AI summary works on a wide range of content, from articles to YouTube videos with a running time of several hours. We particularly liked the personal knowledge base and the way Recall automatically links related content. Spaced Repetition and Active Recall are outstanding features for students. However, some features are still in beta or will be available soon. The functions in the free version are severely limited in the number of users per day, and there is an upper limit for free use.
Performance	7.0 Weava performs adequately when it comes to basic highlighting and syncing. However, the overall performance is marred by the intrusive ads and occasional bugs that make the experience less smooth than it should be.	9.0 Retrieval is fast and reliable in most cases. The summary is fast, even with very extreme examples such as a 9-hour news show that we had summarized in our test. Occasionally, we encountered errors or slowdowns, especially when asking further questions about the summarized content via the wizard. The team is actively working on performance improvements and there are regular updates. Overall, the tool feels stable and is suitable for everyday use.
Design	6.0 The design is where Weava really struggles. The interface is cluttered with ads, making it not only visually unappealing but also frustrating to use. Here's a screenshot showing one of their ads taking up nearly half the height of their sidebar: The overall design feels outdated and lacks the intuitive flow found in other tools. This poor design significantly hampers the user experience.	9.0 The user interface has a clear and modern design. The focus is on user-friendliness. We found the browser extension intuitive and easy to navigate. The tagging and organization system can be used flexibly, and some users mentioned minor bugs in the user interface, but these were only minimally noticeable in the test.
Value for Money	6.8 The free version of Weava offers basic features, and their premium plan at $3.99/month is priced similarly to competitors. However, given the ads in the free version and the overall user experience, you can find better value in alternatives that provide more features and a cleaner interface for the same or even lower cost.	8.1 The free tariff is suitable for infrequent users who do not need all the functions, as you will quickly reach the map limit. However, if you want to use the extension on a day-to-day basis, you cannot avoid the extension. The paid plan is competitively priced, especially with the student discount. We appreciate that some features will remain free forever, and the team is open to feedback on pricing. Compared to alternatives, Recall offers good value for money for those who need advanced knowledge management features, but casual users may find the limitations too restrictive and stop using the extension.
Ease of Use	6.5 Weava’s basic highlighting functionality is straightforward, but the poor design and mandatory account creation add unnecessary friction. The ads make navigation cumbersome, and while it’s not difficult to learn, using the tool effectively can be a challenge due to these barriers.	8.0 An account is required to use Recall. However, due to the integration with a Google and Apple login, this should be easy for everyone. Saving and summarizing content is a one-click process that is well explained at the beginning. However, mastering all functions (e.g., nested tags, links, and spatial repetitions) requires some time and some searching, which can lead to many users not being able to exploit the full potential.
Security & Privacy	7.0 Weava does take steps to protect user data, and their privacy policy is clear about not selling personal information. However, the requirement to create an account and the potential for data collection through ads could be a concern for privacy-conscious users.	9.9 Recall is characterized by its privacy-friendly approach. User data is not used by the extension for advertising, profiling, or AI training. All content is stored securely, and users retain full control over their data. Data can be exported for inspection or deleted at any time. The data protection guidelines are transparent, and support is always available to answer questions about data protection. We were unable to identify any uncertainties during our review.
Conclusion	Weava Highlighter may still be a popular choice, but its current state leaves much to be desired. The overwhelming presence of ads and a clunky design significantly detract from the user experience, making it hard to justify its use when other tools offer a more polished and ad-free environment. If you’re serious about your productivity, it’s worth exploring alternatives like Web Highlights, which delivers all the benefits of Weava without the downsides.	Recall impressed us with its useful intelligent use of AI and its focus on helping users in their everyday lives, especially when learning. The browser extension makes it easy to capture content, and the revision features with auto-generated questions are a real bonus for learners. For occasional users, the free version may be enough, but if you want to use the extension, you can't avoid the paid version. The extension is not yet perfect and has small bugs, but the team reacts quickly to these and feedback, and many new functions are currently being introduced. Overall, Recall is a good choice for anyone looking to do more than just bookmark cards and build a personal knowledge base. If you're tired of forgetting what you've read online and want to save time, it's a must!
	Install Weava	Install Recall
Our Recommendation	In our comparison between Weava and Recall, Recall came out on top, scoring 8.9. Weava is the most widely used, with over 200k users and 3k+ reviews, but Recall outperformed it in our review. User reviews for Recall reflect our findings, while we rate Weava lower than users do. Notably, Weava has the highest user rating in the Chrome Web Store at 4.06, which is even higher than our rating of 7.0. There are big differences between these extensions, so it's important to look at the details below to find the best fit for your needs. Looking for the richest feature set? Recall stands out with a rating of 9.2. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.5. Need top performance? Recall stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 7. Design lovers, take note: Recall stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6. Want to get the most for your money? Recall stands out with a rating of 8.1. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.8. If you hate complicated tools, Recall stands out with a rating of 8. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.5. With privacy and security becoming ever more important, Recall stands out with a rating of 9.9. On the other hand, Weava lags behind in this area with a rating of 7. If you want a quick recommendation, Recall is our top pick. But as always, the best choice depends on what matters most to you.

Compare Weava and Recall: Which Extension is the Best?

Top 3 Features of Weava Highlighter